Although plastic tines have been used with various harvester reel pickup bat configurations for some time, considerable difficulty has occurred in the field due to breakage of the tines under the stresses generated by the weight or load of the material being harvested as it is engaged by the bats and forced by the tines into the sickle or cutter bar and thence over the cutter bar and onto a draper belt for conveying the harvested material in the combine. The loss of the tines due to breakage or distortion can very well result in a shutdown of the harvesting equipment in order that the broken tines can be replaced.
For these reasons, considerable study has been made to develop an improved plastic tine that will have greater resistance to breakage or distortion such as bending to a fixed set and it is the object of the present invention to provide such an improved tine.